Glitter could be released from jail as early as May

Disgraced former glam rocker Gary Glitter could be released early from his three-year jail sentence for molesting two Vietnamese girls.

Glitter, 62, whose real name is Paul Gadd, was jailed in March last year for sexually molesting the two girls, aged 10 and 11, in the southern Vietnamese coastal city of Vung Tau.

Now prison chiefs at the Thu Duc detention centre where he is being held have said he is on a list of inmates being considered for early release as part of next month's Lunar New Year celebrations.

Vietnam traditionally reduces the terms of inmates with good prison records at that time of year. If his sentence is reduced, Glitter could be released as early as May.

Under Vietnamese law, prisoners can be nominated for early release if they have behaved well and their fellow inmates recommend it.

Nearly everyone in the jail voted for Glitter's early release, according to Tran Huu Thong, director of the Thu Duc detention centre.

"He meets all the criteria," he said of the ageing British glam-rock star, whose 1970s hits included Leader Of The Gang and Do You Want to Touch?

Nearly all the prisoners recommended for early release receive it, he added.

But under Vietnamese law, prisoners must serve at least half their term, meaning Glitter cannot be released before May.

It was reported last year that he faces immediate deportation on release, and is unlikely to have any choice over where the Vietnamese authorities send him.

If he is returned to the UK, he will be placed back on the sex offenders' register, and could also be subject to further charges under the Sex Offences Act 2003, which covers "sex tourism" abroad.

Glitter left the UK after admitting possession of a collection of 4,000 hardcore photographs of children being abused, and receiving a four-month jail sentence in November 1999. He was also put on the sex offenders' register for seven years.

If Glitter became resident in Britain again, his latest offences in Vietnam would constitute grounds for him to be back on the register, according to the Home Office.

In 2002, Glitter was deported from Cambodia after the country's deputy prime minister, Sar Kheng, asked for him to leave as a "preventative measure for protecting the well-being of our children".

Glitter was arrested in November 2005 in Vung Tau, where he had been living for about six months.